Open AccessEffects of inbreeding on morphological and life history traits of the sand cricket, Gryllus firmus
Author(s) -
Derek A. Roff
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
heredity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.441
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1365-2540
pISSN - 0018-067X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2540.1998.00363.x
Subject(s) - inbreeding depression , biology , inbreeding , fecundity , life history theory , population fragmentation , zoology , ecology , genetic architecture , demography , life history , quantitative trait locus , genetics , population , gene , sociology
Inbreeding depression can cause substantial decreases in trait values. For colonizing organisms, which are likely to suffer relatively high levels of inbreeding at frequent intervals, inbreeding depression could significantly influence the evolution of traits and their genetic architecture. In the present paper, I examine inbreeding depression in the cricket Gryllus firmus , an inhabitant of ephemeral habitats such as sand dunes. Two questions are addressed: (i) do some traits show high levels of inbreeding depression; and (ii) do life history traits show higher levels of inbreeding depression than morphological traits? Growth rate and fecundity show very high levels of inbreeding depression (8–16% for the former, 14% for the latter). These rates of depression could potentially have significant effects on the survival probability of newly established populations. Overall, life history traits show significantly higher inbreeding depression (5.3%) than morphological traits (0.4%).